I Haven't ever painted one of my foam planes, what paint type is best? I was thinking acrylic paint thInned out , what brand tho? , and where can I get a cheap beginners airbrush ?

Its easy, really. I just painted my first plane. FW-190. I used acrylic latex paint from Lowes brand name Valspar. Thinned it enough to spray through the airbrush. (approx 50/50 paint/water) I bought my airbrush from Harbor Freight for 14.00 on sale. 2 year replacement on it was 5.00 it is not the greatest quality but it will do the job you need. If it craps out get it replaced. It beats shelling out 150.00 for a brush. You will need a compressor as well. They have those too. I was lucky to have one already. Practice on scrap. Go slowly with the paint to build up the color and depth you are after. Cant post a picture from my iPad, but trust me, the weathering is easy. with an airbrush it is easy to feather out the colors and it comes out great. Beats the factory paint hands down. I just wish you could get unpainted models from the manufacturers.

can i paint using a brush by hand? i live i an apartment, what is a good small airbrush to use in an apartment , ill need a compressor too, i saw some really tiny kits on the net for like 60 bucks, dont wanna make the neighbors think im doing something im not supposed to be, or am i gonna have to paint by hand

Walmart sells water based paints in the craft department under the Apple Barrel brand. Some are gloss coats. About a couple of bucks for a 8 oz container.

Buy a $1 sheet of foam from the $Tree and pull the paper off. Get some of the Walmart paint and try brushing the paint on the $Tree foam. Try different dilutions up to 50/50 and see how it works with a brush. Different colors work differently. Yellow will cover anything very evenly. Blue not so good.

But for the time being I use a foam brush to apply the Walmart acrylic paint for stuff like invasion stripes on foamies. It works out purdy well but I dab the paint on the foam to avoid streaks in the paint. I'm almost certain the texture and finish would be far better than using a paint brush.

It would take take forever to paint the whole foamy this way though, which brings me back to the airbrush gun.

Do you need a mini compressor for a modeling air brush gun or can I just reduce psi on shop compressor?

A good regulator (~$25 new) will knock the pressure down to airbrush levels. Be sure to look up your brush type; top feeds need very little pressure, some operate under 10 psi. Bottom feeds need more, up into the 30 psi range, and pressure for side feed is between them. Set the regulator to the right setting, then slightly adjust as needed for your particular airbrush. Also be sure to have a dryer or moisture trap on the line.

The real bonus for 'airbrush compressors' is their noise level, or rather their lack of noise. Some are extremely quiet, sounding like a loud cat purring. Of course this quietness costs more too but sometimes it is worth it. You can save money with a long length of hose to use on an existing loud tire/tool compressor so the compressor can be put it in another room or outside. If the hose has standard connectors, you also need to make or buy an adapter into the smaller airbrush hose size.

Check out Hobby Lobby (craft store). First, go to your trusty computer and print a 40% off coupon. You can use "one per day". Or just go to another cashier each time The 40% coupon make thins look attractive.

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I'm also without an airbrush/compressor, and as I'm trying to save for a house, I'm in the "I don't really want to spend any real money unless I absolutely have to" mode. So for a project I worked on, I picked up a Preval Sprayer from the local hardware store for $7. It claims one power unit (isobutane and propane) can spray 16oz of whatever you put in the jar. I haven't used it yet, but based on some YouTube videos, it looks like it has the potential of working pretty well. Obviously I'll practice on something disposable before putting it to my plane I've been working on for the past month+!